Takekazu Kunieda

Tardigrades are able to tolerate almost complete dehydration by reversibly switching to an ametabolic state. This ability is called anhydrobiosis. In the anhydrobiotic state, tardigrades can withstand various extreme environments including space, but their molecular basis remains largely unknown. Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins are heat-soluble proteins and can prevent protein-aggregation in dehydrated conditions in other anhydrobiotic organisms, but their relevance to tardigrade anhy

Abstract Carbohydrate‐metabolizing enzymes may have particularly interesting roles in the honey bee, Apis mellifera , because this social insect has an extremely carbohydrate‐rich diet, and nutrition plays important roles in caste determination and socially mediated behavioural plasticity. We annotated a total of 174 genes encoding carbohydrate‐metabolizing enzymes and 28 genes encoding lipid‐metabolizing enzymes, based on orthology to their counterparts in the fly, Drosophila melanogaster, and

Genomic DNA stores all genetic information and is indispensable for maintenance of normal cellular activity and propagation. Radiation causes severe DNA lesions, including double-strand breaks, and leads to genome instability and even lethality. Regardless of the toxicity of radiation, some organisms exhibit extraordinary tolerance against radiation. These organisms are supposed to possess special mechanisms to mitigate radiation-induced DNA damages. Extensive study using radiotolerant bacteria

Tardigrades are able to tolerate almost complete dehydration by entering a reversible ametabolic state called anhydrobiosis and resume their animation upon rehydration. Dehydrated tardigrades are exceptionally stable and withstand various physical extremes. Although trehalose and late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins have been extensively studied as potent protectants against dehydration in other anhydrobiotic organisms, tardigrades produce high amounts of tardigrade-unique protective prote

Upon desiccation, some tardigrades enter an ametabolic dehydrated state called anhydrobiosis and can survive a desiccated environment in this state. For successful transition to anhydrobiosis, some anhydrobiotic tardigrades require pre-incubation under high humidity conditions, a process called preconditioning, prior to exposure to severe desiccation. Although tardigrades are thought to prepare for transition to anhydrobiosis during preconditioning, the molecular mechanisms governing such proces

Trehalose is a versatile non-reducing sugar. In some animal groups possessing its intrinsic production machinery, it is used as a potent protectant against environmental stresses, as well as blood sugar. However, the trehalose biosynthesis genes remain unidentified in the large majority of metazoan phyla, including vertebrates. To uncover the evolutionary history of trehalose production machinery in metazoans, we scrutinized the available genome resources and identified bifunctional trehalose-6-

We previously identified the Mblk-1 gene in the honeybee brain, which encodes a transcription factor containing two DNA binding motifs, termed RHF1 and 2 (Takeuchi et al. (2001) Insect Mol. Biol. 121, 134-140). Here, we identified two mouse Mblk1 homologues, Mlr1 and Mlr2. Both encode proteins containing a single DNA-binding motif highly conserved with RHF2 and activate transcription mediated by a DNA element recognized by honeybee Mblk-1. Mlr1 was expressed predominantly in the spermatocytes of

Tardigrades are aquatic micrometazoans found in various habitats. Many limno-terrestrial species can tolerate desiccation by entering a metabolically inactive dehydrated state called anhydrobiosis, whereas most species in constantly hydrated habitats, such as freshwater or marine species, cannot undergo anhydrobiosis and are susceptible to desiccation. Although comparative analyses between anhydrobiotic species and desiccation-sensitive species will lead to a better understanding of anhydrobiosi

Tardigrades are small aquatic invertebrates known for their remarkable tolerance to diverse extreme stresses. To elucidate the in vivo mechanisms underlying this extraordinary resilience, methods for genetically manipulating tardigrades have long been desired. Despite our prior success in somatic cell gene editing by microinjecting Cas9 ribonucleoproteins (RNPs) into the body cavity of tardigrades, the generation of gene-edited individuals remained elusive. In this study, employing an extremotol

Abstract Tardigrades are able to tolerate almost complete dehydration by entering a reversible ametabolic state called anhydrobiosis and resume their animation upon rehydration. Dehydrated tardigrades are exceptionally stable and withstand various physical extremes. Although trehalose and late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins have been extensively studied as potent protectants against dehydration in other anhydrobiotic organisms, tardigrades produce high amounts of tardigrade-unique protect